1967 Monaco Grand Prix
|poletime = 1:27.6 |fastestlap = 1:29.5 |fastestlapdriver = Jim Clark |fastestlapnation = GBR |fastestlapteam = |fastestlapnumber = 38 |winner = Denny Hulme |winnernation = NZL |winnerteam = |second = Graham Hill |secondnation = GBR |secondteam = |third = Chris Amon |thirdnation = NZL |thirdteam = }} The 1967 Monaco Grand Prix, officially known as the XXV Grand Prix Automobile de Monaco, was the second round of the FIA Formula One World Championship, held on the Circuit de Monaco on the 7th of May, 1967. The race would go down as a dark day in F1 history, for a horrific accident on the harbour front claimed the life of lead driver Lorenzo Bandini. It had been a strong run in practice/qualifying for the Italian racer in the scarlet car, as Bandini claimed second on the grid behind the defending World Champion Jack Brabham. John Surtees and Denny Hulme shared row two, while it was an all Scottish affair on row three as Jim Clark and Jackie Stewart lined up together. Bandini was straight into the lead of the race when the flag dropped, aided by a spectacular engine failure for Brabham, which left the Australian stranded in the middle of the circuit. Fortunately, the pack managed to get past without issue, although Jo Siffert did pick up damage from avoiding action. Bandini's lead was short lived, as Hulme and Stewart went charging past on the third lap, just moments after Clark had gone off while challenging for the podium spots. Stewart and Hulme would then scrap for a few laps before the Scot escaped, although he would have his race cut short by a transmission failure. The race settled down with Bandini chasing down Hulme, while Clark picked his way back through the order to get into fourth, only for a suspension failure to end his race prematurely. The race then looked settled, the only change being when Bruce McLaren stopped with an electrical problem to promote Chris Amon, Bandini's teammate, onto the podium. Then, as Bandini came charging into the chicane on the 82nd lap the Ferrari snapped sideways and struck a mooring post, rolled and landed in the straw bales before self igniting. Rescue attempts were delayed as marshals took far too much time to put out the fire, with Bandini rushed straight to hospital, although the signs were not good. The race continued on in a rather subdued mood, with Amon losing second after a puncture meaning Graham Hill finished in second behind Hulme, who won for the first time. Amon claimed third ahead of McLaren, with the final points claimed by and Mike Spence. Most of the F1 drivers would be en-route to Indianapolis for the Indianapolis 500 when news of Bandini's death broke on the Wednesday following the race. The Italian's death did, however, begin an ever increasing push for better safety with straw bales outlawed from racing while marshals were to receive proper fire safety training at Grand Prix events from that point onwards. Background Five months had passed since the opening round of the season back in South Africa, allowing the teams to complete work on their challengers for the new season.D.S.J., 'XXV MONACO GRAND PRIX: A well deserved victory', motorsportmagazine.com, (MotorSport Magazine, 01/06/1967), http://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/june-1967/35/xxv-monaco-grand-prix, (Accessed 09/08/2016) Shock victories for Dan Gurney (Race of Champions) and Mike Parkes (International Trophy) proceeded the arrival of the field to Monte Carlo, with sixteen drivers allowed to start. The circuit itself was largely unchanged from previous seasons, although the start/finish straight was moved further towards Sainte Devote. Heralding the arrival of the teams from Britain was the sight of the team in the paddock, returning to action after redeveloping their racing facilities in Maranello. They were plotting revenge at the 24 Hours of Le Mans after being beaten by Ford, and had decided to sign up Chris Amon to their Sportscar and Formula One programmes, both of which had new V12 engines. The New Zealander came in as Lorenzo Bandini's number two driver, while a third entry was allocated for Ludovico Scarfiotti, but was not taken up. The British crowd were headlined by the team who, despite failing to take the win in South Africa, still looked to be the class of the field. Owner/driver Jack Brabham would return to the BT19 chassis in Monaco to test an updated engine, while Denny Hulme would use the normal BT20. , meanwhile, had two cars for John Surtees to use, with both identically updated with new gearboxes and wider alloy wheels. Team Lotus arrived with two cars for Jim Clark and Graham Hill, as the Norfolk squad had completed work on their new for 1967 Lotus 49s. Unfortunately, these cars were not those shipped to Monte Carlo, as the engines they were built for were yet to be delivered, so Colin Chapman had to use the older 33s. They also needed to scavenge a couple of engines from the 1966 stockpile, with Clark getting a modified , while Hill used a which had been bored out to 2.1 litres. were split in their use of cars, as Jackie Stewart was entered with an ex-Tasman Championship car, the one he had used to win the 1966 Monaco Grand Prix. Mike Spence would use an updated H16 car for the weekend, although a second of these cars was held in reserve for Stewart if he wanted to change. had three unmodified cars for Jochen Rindt and , operating on the basis that they could pick up another win if they simply ran without problems. The above eleven entries were all invited on the basis that they had been building F1 cars for the previous three seasons, so they would all automatically qualify. That left the other manufacturers, such as Gurney's pair of s for himself and Richie Ginther needing to qualify. Bruce McLaren was in a similar position with his brand new McLaren M4B, which had been based on a Formula Two design. The privateers would also have to qualify, although local interest would be invested in the only French driver Grand Prix driver on the grid Guy Ligier, until he failed to appear with his Cooper-Maserati. Elsewhere, British Formula Two front runner Piers Courage would run with the Reg Parnell Racing owned BRM, despite rumours that he was to be replaced by rival Chris Irwin. Jo Siffert and Jo Bonnier were also in action with their teams' own Cooper-Maseratis, joined by another regular privateer in the form of Bob Anderson. Another pair of cars were also put on the initial entry list, built in Britain by wheel manufacturer John Pearce with engines from engineer Ted Martin. These, however, would never arrive when a fire on the transporter destroyed both cars, leaving the organisers with two blank spaces.'GRAND PRIX RESULTS: MONACO GP, 1967', grandprix.com, (Inside F1 Inc., 2016), http://www.grandprix.com/gpe/rr152.html, (Accessed 09/08/2016) These were therefore given to leading Formula Two runners Matra Sport, who fielded two Frenchmen, Jean-Pierre Beltoise and Johnny Servoz-Gavin, in their F2 cars, which were ballasted up to Grand Prix weight. With only one race gone, there was no surprise that South Africa winner Rodriguez stood at the top of the World Championship standings, with Rhodesian racer John Love a career best of second. Surtees started the European season in third ahead of Hulme, while popular privateer Anderson began the season with two points. Defending World Champion Brabham had opened his title defence with a single point. The factory effort were handed an early lead in the Intercontinental Cup for Manufacturers standing after their victory courtesy of Rodriguez. Cooper were also in second with the privateer powered effort of Love, while were in third due to Surtees. were in fourth, the rules of the World Championship meaning that only the best placed car from each team scored points, with Brabham appearing again with the privateer Climax of Anderson. Entry list The full entry list for the is outlined below: ** Beltoise and Servoz-Gavin were technically using Formula Two cars, but they were allowed to compete the in the Grand Prix and score points, so are considered as Formula One entries. Practice Overview Qualifying Practice/qualifying would begin on Thursday to continue on with the tradition in Monte Carlo, with two hours of running scheduled. An early session on Friday, starting at 7:00am for two hours would then wake up the city before a third and final run on Saturday afternoon. The target time for the pace setters would be the 1:29.8 laid down by Lorenzo Bandini in the 1966 race, with many expecting the 3.0 litre cars to go well under that mark. Report Thursday's running saw no spectacular times published, as teams set about getting in some solid running in with early times generally falling in at 1:35.0. The pace would eventually climb in the second hour, with Jackie Stewart finding a few tenths a lap to end the session as fastest on a 1:29.5. His best was over half a second quicker than anyone else, although Denny Hulme was looking like a threat to pole as he gracefully drifted his round the circuit. Overnight Team Lotus arrived after delays in getting through France, as their mechanics joined the crews at Brabham, who were fitting the brand new Repco engine into Jack Brabham's car, in getting their cars prepared. The roar of V8s was soon to be held in the early morning sunlight at Monaco, with Jim Clark out straight away and on the pace, although Thursday's pace setter Stewart was keeping with him. Graham Hill was also getting in some serious times, while Hulme was working his way down to the sub 1:30.0s throughout the session, while teammate Brabham ran in the new engine. Friday, however, would not go without incident with two crashes involving two of the Frenchmen in the field. The first involved Jean-Pierre Beltoise in the #1 , where a suspension failure pitched his car into the wall at Casino Square. The second saw Piers Courage push too hard through the run onto the harbour front and hit the outside wall. Other incidents saw Bandini hit the throttle too early out of Mirabeau and spin himself into the wall, while Stewart's session was ended when he had a transmission failure just a few yards on from the tunnel. The Saturday session looked to be a right off in the morning, with rain falling on the circuit as soon as dawn broke, although the clouds broke up just after lunch. Two Formula 3 heats dried the circuit nicely for the Grand Prix cars, whose drivers decided to push right from the moment the circuit opened. The pole fight would not, however, feature the factory s after 's engine refused to cooperate, while Jochen Rindt broke a rear wheel on a high kerb. The hunt for pole was on the moment Bandini beat Surtees' best time from Friday, to put the Italian on provisional pole. Hulme and Clark were the next to try for pole, although their identical laps at 1:28.8 would not be enough to beat Surtees, let alone the lead Ferrari's time. It looked as if Bandini would have pole from that moment on, until the #8 Brabham-Repco, with the "gaffer" himself at the wheel came charging out of the Gasworks Hairpin with a few seconds to go to set a 1:27.6 and duly take pole position. The battle to qualify was no less furious, as the two F2 Matras went to battle with the lower order of the Grand Prix runners. Ultimately, Beltoise would fail alongside Richie Ginther and Bob Anderson, while the Frenchman's team mate Johnny Servoz-Gavin made the cut in an impressive eleventh. The non-qualifiers could also be aggrieved, as all bar Ginther had beaten the time of Rodriguez, while Anderson could have started as high as fourteenth, but Cooper-Maserati, and the second Ferrari of Chris Amon were automatic qualifiers. Qualifying Results The full qualifying results for the are outlined below: Grid Race Sunday was a cool but otherwise fine day in the Principality, with the Formula 3 final heat in the morning entertaining the locals before the Grand Prix cars were rolled out. After the usual parade in the vintage sports cars, and the circuit was officially opened by the Prince next to the newly relocated timekeepers stand, the grid was cleared ready for the start. All sixteen cars were able to wheel off the dummy grid without problems and line up on the grid proper just before the flag drop. Report When the flag dropped it was the second place starting Lorenzo Bandini who got the best launch off the grid, with Jack Brabham seeming to hesitate before the finally got into action. The Australian would get into Sainte Devote in second, but when the field came through the Mirabeau the engine failed and threw Brabham into a spin. The field had to scatter around the broken Brabham, which was rolling backwards down the hill to the Station Hairpin, although the only car to pick up any damage was Jo Siffert who had no where to go. As Brabham crawled back to the pits and Siffert limped in for a radiator repair, it was still Bandini leading the charge at the end of the opening lap, ahead of Denny Hulme. Jackie Stewart had combined a strong start with the chaos of the Brabham failure to climb into third, while John Surtees and Dan Gurney completed the front runners. The rest of the field were all in a huge group being stifled up by Jim Clark, while Brabham's car arrived with a huge hole in the side of the engine, and a distinct trail of oil that led from the entry to the pits all the way round to Mirabeau. The marshals had reacted quickly to chuck the now all too familiar cement dust around the second half of the circuit, with the herd oncoming to complete the second lap. When the leaders came through to the chicane out of the tunnel there were a few slips and slides on the brakes, prompting Clark, at the head of the following pack, to go up the escape road to avoid a potential accident. However, when the Scot reversed back onto the circuit as the cement dust settled he found himself in fourteenth, only ahead of Siffert who was still in the pits. As Clark began to chase down the rest of the runners, Hulme and Stewart were spotted at the front of the field through the dust, both having got past Bandini on the run out of the chicane. Bruce McLaren was another to use the chicane slips to progress, tagging onto the back of the leading pack, with Gurney taking Surtees at the start of the third lap. Unfortunately the New Yorker would get no further up the order, with his losing a belt to run the fuel pump, meaning his car was abandoned at the side of the circuit. Elsewhere, Clark was making up for lost time as the cement dust cleared, taking Piers Courage and at the back of the field, while Siffert was back in action. Jochen Rindt, meanwhile, was the latest to break away from the main pack to join the lead fight, taking McLaren after a couple of false starts into the Gasworks Hairpin. His move was just moments after Stewart and Hulme had gone side-by-side across the start/finish line, with the Scot wrestling the lead away from the New Zealander on the brakes into Sainte Devote. The top two were slowly drawing away once Stewart took the lead, with the small Scot also beginning to build a gap back to Hulme who was working very hard. Bandini was still in third and a threat with Surtees right behind who had McLaren and Rindt swapping around in his mirrors before a huge gap back to the rest. It was Graham Hill at the front of the following pack, who was not at his usual Monte Carlo best and holding up the rest, with teammate Clark picking off most of the second pack to sit inside the top ten. Suddenly, there was a car missing at the front only to be seen limping along the harbour front with a broken transmission. The car belonged to Stewart, who had suffered the failure through the tunnel and so was out of the race, meaning it was Hulme back in control of the race ahead of Bandini, Surtees and McLaren, for Rindt also met his demise on the same lap with a gearbox failure. Yet, as one Scot faltered the other came on strong, as Clark finally cleared the second pack by passing Hill and was now starting to bring McLaren into his sights. The fall of Stewart and the charge of Clark seemed to spur on Hulme, whose pace suddenly jumped into the 1:31.0s, with the New Zealander steadily building a gap back to Bandini. The Italian's day was not being helped by the constant attacks from Surtees, although the 's days were numbered the moment it started to emit smoke on lap 27. McLaren was soon the man in third place and harassing the scarlet , while Surtees was seen waving Clark by a few laps later as the Scot set a fastest lap at 1:30.6. Surtees would continue on until lap 33, by which time Hulme had the entire length of the harbour, and the start/finish straight, between himself and Bandini. The second pack had long since broken up with other retirements to leave Hill, whose pace was steadily picking up, and Chris Amon as the last of those on the lead lap. Clark, meanwhile, was now bearing down on McLaren as he continued to shave fractions of a second off of his lap record pace, the peak of his work being a 1:29.5. Yet, the double World Champion would pay the price for pushing the boundaries of the 1965 technology, as a suspension failure through Tabac on lap 43 put the Lotus 33 into the wall. Fortunately, Clark would climb out of the ruined car uninjured, as the battle for the lead slowly ebbed back towards Bandini, who halved the gap over the following laps. At half distance the Italian was eight seconds off the lead, with McLaren third, while Amon had taken Hill and pulled a gap out between them. Half distance in Monte Carlo, however, was after 50 laps, and the second half of the race would be marked by fatigue of both car and driver. This was perfectly demonstrated by Bandini, as the Italian began to sling his car around the circuit and make mistakes as he tried to eat further into the lead, while Hulme continued on without missing an apex. McLaren was also providing an example, with his engine losing power after an alternator began to falter, meaning he had to stop on lap 71 for a new battery. Just before the New Zealander pitted there was a spin at Sainte Devote, where Courage had to abandon his car after stalling while partially beached on the kerb. Then, on lap 82, a rather more serious accident occurred, as Bandini came barrelling into the chicane after blasting out of the tunnel. After mis-judging his braking, the Italian struck a wooden post on the inside of the chicane which threw the car into the straw bales at the side of the circuit with enough force to flip the car. The Ferrari bounced back a small way upside down, leaving Bandini trapped in the cockpit as the fuel tank set fire to the car. It seemed like an age before Bandini was pulled from the car, with a T.V. helicopter not helping things by flying over the incident, the down-draft effectively fanning the flames. The Italian was unconscious and immediately taken to hospital, with race continuing on by cutting through the chicane, where Bandini's teammate Amon picked up a puncture. The subsequent stop dropped the New Zealander back to third behind Hill, with the race drawing into a procession as news of Bandini's condition spread across the pits. Eventually Hulme received the chequered flag to claim his maiden World Championship victory, although celebrations were short lived in the pits. Hill went by in second after a low key performance, Amon unable to catch and re-pass in the time available, while McLaren's fresh battery got him to fourth. There was then a dispute over fifth after Rodriguez passed Mike Spence while everyone was looking at the Bandini accident, with the timekeepers believing the Mexican had got past despite protests from . News of Bandini's death came through on the following Wednesday, although most of the top F1 runners would not hear until Thursday when they arrived in Indianapolis for the Indianapolis 500. Results The full results for the are outlined below: Milestones *25th Monaco Grand Prix. *First Grand Prix entry for . **Also the first official entry for . *42nd and final race for Lorenzo Bandini. *Tenth career pole position for Jack Brabham. *Denny Hulme claimed a maiden Grand Prix win. *Fifth win for engine supplier . **Also their tenth visit to the podium. *Chris Amon registered his first career podium. *Team Lotus scored their fortieth podium. *44th and final fastest lap set by a engine. Standings Victory put Denny Hulme into the lead of the World Championship by just a single point from South Africa winner , before a five point gap back to third. That position was held by Graham Hill, level on points with Rhodesian John Love, while John Surtees and Chris Amon were tied on four points apiece. Ten drivers were registered on the scorers list already, with Mike Spence and Jack Brabham last of those to have done so. were on to defend their Intercontinental Cup for Manufacturers crown already, with Hulme's victory putting them into the lead. were down to second but just a point behind, before Cooper appeared again in fourth, level on points with . were in the top five, tied with , with , and also on the board. References Images and Videos: * References: Category:Grand Prix articles Category:Monaco Grand Prix Category:1967 Grands Prix